


Can't Stop

by markwasalone



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-01 16:00:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17247164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markwasalone/pseuds/markwasalone
Summary: After getting into one too many fights in Manchester, David gets sent to an American boarding school for a change of scenery. During his first day at the new school, he comes across some bullies ganging up on someone. Finally having a legitimate reason to scuffle, he swoops in to intervene.





	1. Someone in the Crowd

**Author's Note:**

> My friend/beta suggested I try "writing something where they're not running from killers all the time" so this is the result.

It was a bright Monday morning when David got dropped off in front of Morningstar Academy. Looking over the large campus, he took in the view. 

Stepping out of the taxi, he tipped the driver before heading down towards the main entrance of the school. While walking, he noticed a group of students all crowded around something. The familiar sight brought a rush of excitement to him. Coming closer, his suspicions were proven true when he saw that they were watching a fight in progress. The only issue was that it wasn't a fair one, it seemed to be 2 against 1. 

David sized up the 2 bigger students first. They looked older, probably juniors at least, and seemed pretty built. The difference in physicality was even more apparent when he studied the nerdy student fighting solo. The boy was at least a year younger than the other 2 boys. He definitely wasn't an athlete given his average build. This definitely seemed more and more like standard bullying. 

It was perfect. He could finally enter a fight and have a good reason for doing so. Rolling up his sleeves, he walked into the circle to even the odds. The bullies gave him a funny look. 

"Who the hell are you?" 

"I'm new here but that's not important right now. What is important though, is that you seem to be ganging up on this poor lad here. I was in the the area and just thought I'd be a good samaritan and help him out." 

"This ain't any of your business, new kid." One of them spat out. 

Ignoring him, David turned to nerdy boy and grinned. 

"I'll take it from here mate." 

As soon as he finished his sentence he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning quickly, he broke his attacker's grasp and punched him square in the face. The force of the punch launched the aggressor back and onto his ass. There was a stunned silence as the crowd processes what had just happened. The second bully moved to retaliate but the sound of an adult voice rang out. 

"THAT'S ENOUGH! Max, Philip, Dwight and David, in my office now." 

The onlookers dispersed quickly at the sound of Principal Macmillan's voice and the 4 boys walked into the office. Principal Macmillan talked to each of them individually and left David for last. 

David took a seat in the office and crossed his arms. He knew where this was going. 

"First day here and you're already getting into fights Mr. King. It's my understanding that you're here because you got into too many of them back home. However since you're new here, I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt. Please explain to me what happened." 

Surprised at the man's tone, David let his arms fall to his side and began to reply: "I was just walking to the administration building when I see a big group of kids surrounding something. I was curious so I checked it out. All I see is those 2 jackasses-"

"Language Mr. King." 

"Those 2...upperclassmen beating on that poor bloke. He didn't stand a chance against those 2 so I stepped in to help. Didn't look like anyone else was gonna help." 

Principal Macmillan studied his face for a moment while he processed the information. After a moment he spoke. 

"How noble of you. In that case, I don't think you'll be needing any disciplinary action. Just try not to get in any more fights while you're here please. I’d rather not have to make a call to your parents. Now then, you still need a tour of the grounds. I have 1 of our seniors waiting in the downstairs lobby to show you around. He'll also be showing you to your room." 

"Well, uh, thanks Mr. Macmillan. I'll see ya around." David said as he walked left the office and headed to the lobby. There were a couple of students but he wasn't sure which was his tour guide. He didn't have to wonder long when he heard a voice calling his name. 

"David?" 

Turning around, he came face to face with a tall student, definitely a senior.

"Hello, my name's Adam. I'm a senior here and I'm going to be showing you around today." Adam said as he offered his hand. 

David shook his hand firmly.

"Nice to meet ya mate." 

“How are you liking it here so far?” Adam asked as he gestured for David to follow him out of the building. 

“I didn’t make it 5 minutes here without getting into it with some dickheads so it already reminds me of home.” he answered with a smirk. 

Adam let out a hearty laugh. 

“I heard that you made quite the first impression with Macmillan after that. Just between you and me, I think those guys had it coming. Hopefully they think twice about picking fights now.” 

“If they’re anything like the dickheads I dealt with back home, probably not.” David shrugged. 

 

After about 40 minutes touring the grounds, Adam finally showed him to his room. 

"Once you're settled you can change into your uniform and head to your 4th period class. I actually have to head to my math class right now so if you don't have any more questions I'll just go."

David shook his head. 

“Nah I should be all set, thanks again man.”

“Stay out of trouble.” Adam teased as he made his way down the hall. 

David turned his attention to luggage and began unpacking his things. After changing into his uniform, he started walking to class. Standing in front of room 2-B, he knocked on the door before taking a step inside. 

"Hey, I’m the new student. This is English yeah?" 

"That is correct. Welcome Mr. King, I'm Ms. Yamaoka. We were just in the middle of pairing up for our new group assignment. Who still doesn't have a partner?" 

A tentative hand rose up towards the middle of the class. 

"Great, looks like you'll be working with Mr. Fairfield today. You can take the seat next to him." 

David walked over to the empty desk and sat down. Turning to his new partner, he offered a light grin. Before he could introduce himself, Dwight spoke up. 

"You're the new guy from earlier." 

"Nice to see you again." 

"Why did you do that?" 

"I like a good fight." he shrugged. 

Dwight gave him a look so he continued. 

"And a good fight is between 2 people on equal ground. Those jackasses had no business ganging up on you like that. No one else was stepping up so I figured I'd even the odds a bit." 

Dwight's face softened after hearing his explanation. 

"Well thanks for that, people usually just watch when stuff like that happens." Dwight said, turning to look down at his desk. Seeing the younger boy's solemn expression tugged at something in him, so David gave his shoulder a pat. Feeling the contact, Dwight's face rose up to meet David's eyes again. 

"Well I guess I'm not like most people, eh? One might even say better?” David goaded. 

That earned a quiet laugh from the other boy. 

“Anyway don't sweat it, I don't think they'll pull that shit again while I'm around. I’m David by the way, in case you were curious about the name of your hero.” David said with a smirk. 

Dwight’s expression changed from shy to something more playful. 

“Okay now you’re just milking it.” Dwight said with wave of his hand. 

“Maybe, but I’d argue that defending the meek is pretty heroic.” 

Dwight rolled his eyes. 

“I still haven’t caught your name though.” David pressed. 

“I’m Dwight. It’s nice to meet you properly this time...even if you’ve got a bit of an ego it seems.”

David made an exaggerated grasp at his chest. 

“Wounded by the very man I just saved a few hours ago, how tragic.” 

Before Dwight could reply, Ms. Yamaoka began walking up and down the aisles of desk to make sure each group was actually using class time to work.

“Now why don't you tell me about the project we're supposed to be doing before she sees that we’re just bullshitting?" David said with a chuckle. 

Dwight smiled and delved into all the gritty details of their assignment. They managed to get the intro done before the bell rang. 

“Guess we’re out of time.” David said. 

“We made a good amount of progress though. How about we meet up sometime this week to finish the rest of it?” 

“Sounds good to me. When works for you?”

“Uhh, I left my planner in my room, but I think I should have some time on Thursday. I need to double check though before I say yes, sorry.” Dwight explained while rubbing the back of his neck. 

“That’s fine mate. Listen, how about this, I’ll give you my number and you can just text me when you figure it out?” 

Dwight flushed a little at the suggestion. 

“Uh yeah, that sounds go-” His sentence was interrupted by David grabbing his hand and lightly writing down the number on his palm. 

“Great, I gotta run to my next class but I’ll see you around.” David called out as he ran out of the classroom. 

Dwight looked down at his palm and smiled before heading to his own class.


	2. The Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dwight and David get to know each other a little better while working on their project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I'm sorry this took so long. Work has been keeping me busy but I finally found some time to finish this chapter. I hope the wait wasn't too bad. I also wanted to say thank you to those who left comments on the first chapter, it's always nice to get feedback and they helped me stay motivated.

“Ugh can we take a break? We’ve been in here for hours.” David asked with a sigh. 

“Uh yeah sure, we have most of the project done anyway.” Dwight replied. 

With a cheer, David pushed aside their books and kicked his feet up onto the table. When he turned to say something to Dwight, the other boy looked mortified. 

“You can’t do that David, the librarian will kill you if she sees you like this.” 

“I think you’re being a bit dramatic there mate.” David said while resting his hands behind his neck. 

“Okay but when a book comes flying at you out of nowhere don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

David just laughed him off. 

“I appreciate the concern but I think I can manage a little old librarian.” 

When Dwight didn’t respond, he looked at what the shy boy was looking at. A tall, stern looking woman was beginning to approach them. She stopped in front of their table, her imposing figure casting a large shadow on them. Crossing her arms, she began to speak: “You’re new here so listen closely because I’m only saying this once. You come into my library and you’re expected to treat it with the respect that it deserves. This means no kicking your filthy shoes onto the tables, am I understood?” 

David gulped before speaking up.

“Y-yes m-miss.” 

She smirked. 

“Wonderful, good luck with your studies then boys.” 

David watched her leave before turning his attention back to Dwight. The younger boy was struggling to hold in a laugh.

“Bloody hell Dwight, you didn’t say she was a damn giant!” he said a bit louder than he meant to. He quickly glanced over to her in the distance to make sure she hadn’t heard him. He breathed a sigh of relief when she appeared to be too far away to catch that. By this time Dwight was erupting in a burst of poorly contained giggles. David was taken back by how cute he found it. The warmth in his chest at hearing Dwight’s laugh was replaced with embarrassment as he remembered who was being laughed at. 

“Alright, alright, let it out mate.” 

Dwight’s laughter eventually simmered down long enough for him to respond. 

“Oh my god, I’m sorry David but that was the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. The big, strong transfer student who took on 2 of the school’s premiere bullies getting put in his place by Ms. Anna, it’s too rich.” Dwight said while wiping a tear from his eye. 

David tried to keep his sour expression but still felt a small smile tug at his face at seeing Dwight so amused. 

“...I guess it was kinda funny when you put it like that.” he conceded. He thought for a moment before adding: “And it’s always nice when my fans recognize how strong I am.” Rolling up his sleeve, he flexed to emphasize his point. This earned him an eye roll from Dwight. 

“I’m not one of your fans.” Dwight deadpanned. 

“Don’t worry you will be.” David said with a smirk. 

Dwight felt himself flush at the older boy’s confidence. 

“You’re really something else huh?” 

David just gave him a pleased smile. A wave of silence came over them, neither one quite sure where exactly to take the conversation. Dwight was the one to eventually break the silence. 

“So uh, what do you do for fun?” 

“Oh are we doing ice breakers now? Watching me almost get stepped on by the librarian wasn’t enough of one.” David joked. 

“Hey, I’m just trying to make conversation.” 

“I’m just giving you shit mate.” David said with a laugh before continuing: “I used to play rugby at my old school.” 

“Yeah I figured you were some kind of jock, you have the look.” 

“Oh really? The big muscles were a dead giveaway eh? Just wait till you see me in the locker room then.” he said with a wink. 

It took all of Dwight’s willpower to not humor the image that David had just placed in his head. Desperate to keep his thoughts PG-13, he sputtered out the first thing that came to mind. 

“S-so uh next question, where are you from?” 

David seemed to stiffen slightly at the question. He pondered it longer than necessary before settling on his answer.

“I used to live in Manchester.” he stated simply. 

“Oh you’re pretty far from home then. What made you want to come all the way over here for?” 

David’s expression turned somber. 

“I’d rather not talk about it.” 

Dwight mentally kicked himself for managing to steer the conversation from fun to this. Clearing his throat, he got up and gestured to the other side of the library. 

“That’s totally alright. I’m gonna go get some snacks from the vending machine, do you want anything?” 

David seemed relieved to have that conversation topic dropped. Offering the other boy a small smile, he nodded: “Surprise me.” 

Dwight turned and started walking towards the vending machine. He hoped that the time away from David would give him some more time to recover from putting his foot in his mouth. Maybe he could even think of less touchy conversation topics. Preoccupied with his thoughts as he turned the corner, he didn’t notice the person walking behind him until he felt a hand tap his shoulder. 

“Ah!” he jumped, only to realize that it was Meg. The girl let out a small laugh at his skittishness. 

“Jeez Meg, you scared me half to death.” 

“Oops, sorry about that bud.” 

“It’s alright, I would’ve noticed you sooner but I was a bit distracted.” he said while scratching the back of his neck. 

“Distracted by a certain athletic new boy on campus?” 

Dwight felt his face heating up. 

“N-no, we’re just here doing our project for English.” 

“With all that flirting I saw before, it didn’t seem like you were doing much work.” she teased. 

“You were spying on me?” Dwight asked incredulously. 

“Well yeah, I was in here doing homework and I saw you walk in with that rugged scrapper guy so I got curious.” 

“His name is David.” 

“Oooh David, he looks like a David. I didn’t know you were so into jocks Dwight.” 

“I’m not dignifying that with a response.” 

“You don’t have to, I think I heard enough to see that you like him. And who would’ve guessed shy little Dwight would go and bag the new guy so soon?” 

“I’m not bagging anything Meg, we’re just-” 

“Just doing your project, sure. Whatever you wanna tell yourself man. I’m just saying that it seems like he’s into you so you should invite him out to our little trip to the botanical garden this weekend.” 

“H-he’s not into me. I mean have you seen him? He’s way too hot for me. Guys like that aren’t into shy nerds like me who still bite their nails at 16.” 

“Ugh, excuse excuses. Fine I guess I can’t make you invite him if you don’t want to.” 

“Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I still need to get to the vending machine.” 

“Gonna woo him with pretzels eh? Not a bad plan.” 

“Goodbye Meg.” Dwight deadpanned before going over to the vending machine and getting some snacks. Coming back to the table, he found David looking over their powerpoint. 

“Here you go.” Dwight said as he handed over the gummy bears and sat back in his chair. 

David uttered a simple “thanks” before opening the container and popping a few into his mouth. 

“You’re welcome, how about we finish up the rest of the project now? It’s getting a bit late.” 

Still chewing, David nodded his head before opening up a new slide and starting to write their conclusion. 30 minutes later and the pair had completed the last part of their assignment. Both boys got up and starting packing up their things. 

“Now’s your chance.” Meg’s voice whispered from the back of Dwight’s mind. Gripping the strap of his messenger bag tightly, he braced himself to ask the question. 

“David?” 

David stopped packing his backpack to look at Dwight. 

“Yeah?” 

“Do you...want to...go first when we present on Friday?” 

David gave him a funny look. 

“Uh...yeah, sure that’s fine.”

“Cool...cool.”

Dwight wanted to crawl into a hole. How pathetic was it that he couldn’t even ask his crush to hang out as friends? It’s a good thing Meg wasn’t around to see what a trainwreck he was. 

“Oh hey Dwight!” 

Dwight cursed under his breath as he saw a familiar redhead run up to them. 

“Hey, I didn’t know you were here. Who’s your friend?” 

“Meg, this is David. David, this is my friend Meg.” Dwight said quickly while gesturing from one person to the other. 

“That’s a pretty lousy introduction Fairfield.” Meg said as she crossed her arms. 

Dwight let out a sigh. 

“David is the new transfer student from Manchester who likes rugby. Meg is my friend who is pretty okay at track sometimes. Better?”

“Hey, I didn’t win the last 3 track meets to just be called okay at it.” she exclaimed in mock offense. 

Before Dwight could respond, David spoke up: “3 times eh? That’s pretty impressive. I did some sprinting myself back home as part of my rugby training. Maybe we could have a friendly race sometime?” 

Meg smiled at that. “Oh you’re so on. It’s gonna be refreshing to have a challenge since Dwight can barely keep up when we go jogging together.” 

“Sorry not all of us can be track stars, Meg.” Dwight chimed in sarcastically. 

“Oh hush you.” she chided. Giving Dwight a little wink, she turned her attention back to David. 

“Speaking of doing things together, are you free this Saturday, David?” 

“Seeing as this is my first week here, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet to say that I don’t have anything lined up.” David said with a chuckle. 

“Cool, then you should totally come to the botanical garden with me and Dwight this weekend.” 

“Sounds good to me.” David replied with a smile. 

“Awesome! Then I suppose I’ll be seeing you 2 on Saturday then.” she said as she sprinted out of the library, all the while ignoring the look Dwight was giving her. 

“She seems nice.” David stated simply. 

“I guess you could say that.” Dwight replied with a sour expression on his face. David studied him for a second before speaking. 

“Would I be...interrupting something on Saturday?” he asked slowly. 

Dwight narrowed his eyes at him. 

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just saying I don’t want to get in between you and your...friend if you wanted some alone time with her.”

Dwight’s eyes widened in realization at what the older boy was implying. 

“Oh god no! Meg is like my sister, we’ve been friends since we were kids.” he explained quickly. 

A flash of relief came across David’s face that didn’t go unnoticed by Dwight. 

“Oh please don’t tell me you want me to help you hook up with her.” 

“You have absolutely nothing to worry about mate.” David replied with a hearty laugh as he patted Dwight on the shoulder. He paused for a moment before adding: “Girls don’t really do it for me anyway.” 

Dwight felt his face heat up at hearing the admission. Before this, he could’ve written off David’s flirty comments as jokes. Especially since there was no shortage of straight guys at his school that did stuff like that, particularly the jocks. But this new information brought the possibility of his feelings being reciprocated closer to reality, and that uncharted territory was terrifying. He must’ve frozen up too because David had removed his hand from his shoulder and turned to look at him. The athletic boy seemed to be searching his eyes to gauge for his reaction. 

“I-I have to go, I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” he sputtered quickly before sprinting out of the library.


	3. The Presentation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dwight continues to be a mess. Good thing he has Meg (and David) to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I'm sorry this took so long. Work has been really stressful lately and I've been feeling kind of burnt out so this took longer than it should have.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU JUST RAN OFF!?"

Dwight shrunk at Meg's exclamation. 

"Could you please lower your voice a bit? You're kinda making a scene." he said lowly while gesturing to the other students in the dining hall. A few of the nearby tables had stopped their conversations to see what the outburst was about. Meg ignored them and sat back down while Dwight gave a tentative wave to signal that everything was fine. After the other students returned to their own business, Meg began talking again, this time in a more normal tone. 

"Sorry but Jesus Christ man, the cute guy tells you he's into dudes and you fucking run for the hills like he just confessed to a murder." 

Dwight hunched over to rest his face in hands. 

"Ugh yeah, I know that was monumentally dumb of me. But I didn't know what else to do! I've never actually talked to another gay guy in person before, especially not one as hot as David. It was a lot at once." 

"God, you're hopeless." she sighed. 

"Yeah, I know." he admitted, letting out a sigh of his own. His pity party was cut short by her hand clapping him on the back. 

"Well it's a good thing you got me then! The universe is practically throwing this cute jock at you and I'm not going to let you give up before you've even really tried." 

"Thanks but I think if I see him again I'm just gonna die from embarrassment." 

Meg looked him dead in the eye. 

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." She said solemnly. 

Dwight laughed before nudging her shoulder. 

"Gee, thanks you absolute saint." 

"Hey now, don't forget I'm the one who setup that date with David this Saturday." 

Dwight rolled his eyes. 

"It's not a date, you'll be there." He pointed out. 

"Not if I have some unforeseen circumstances that stop me from going." She said with a wry smile. 

"Don't you dare, I need you there as a buffer to keep my foot out of mouth." 

"Oh please you don't give yourself enough credit Dwight. I fully believe in your ability to not be a complete spaz in front of David again."

She pondered for a moment before continuing. 

"I mean you set the bar pretty high with the whole running away thing as soon as he came out to you thing, so you'd have to pull some real next level stuff to top that." 

"You're quite the beacon of encouragement aren't you?" Came Dwight's sarcastic reply. After a moment, a slightly panicked expression took over his features. 

"Oh jeez, what if he thinks I'm homophobic? That's probably what he's thinking right now. I'm probably the first person he's told here and I just ran off like that, oh god I'm such a terrible person. We still have to present the project today and it's going to be really awkward and-" 

"DWIGHT!" Meg shouted, the loud noise bringing him out of his rant and back to reality.

"...yeah?" 

"You're going on another downward spiral man. It's just going to make you more anxious if you just keep assuming the worst like that. Remember what you practiced?" 

"Not getting too ahead of myself by assuming that everything that can go wrong will go wrong?" He supplied. 

She nodded approvingly while patting him on the back. 

"Mhm. It's all going to work out dude, trust me. Later you'll get to explain yourself to David and I'm sure he'll understand." she soothed. 

Dwight just rubbed his face with his hands. After taking a deep breath, he replied: "Yeah...you're right." 

"Of course I am." she said with a smile. He turned to give her a small smile of his own. Their moment was interrupted by the bell ringing to signal the start of next period. They each cleared their trays then started walking to the exit together. Eventually they stopped outside of Meg's class. 

"Alright, this is me. I'm gonna knock out this history test and youuuuuu are going to set things straight with David, right?" 

Dwight gave a small nod. 

"You got this man." she cheered before walking into her class. Checking his watch, Dwight cursed under his breath at realizing he only had a couple of minutes to get to English. He broke into a brisk pace towards his classroom. Turning the corner, he spotted Max and Phil making their way towards his direction. He quickly doubled back and jumped into the nearest empty locker. The 2 boys didn't seem to notice him, but they did idle in the hallway for longer than he would have liked. When the coast was finally clear, he jumped out and made a dash for his classroom. 

 

Arriving at his class, Dwight creaked open the door to see that presentations were already underway. Ms Yamoaka locked eyes with him then gestured towards his seat. Quietly opening the door the rest of the way, he did his best to reach his seat with minimal noise. His sigh of relief was cut short by a light elbow to his side. He jumped and turned to come face to face with David. 

"You know, if you wanted to go first it'd probably help to get to class on time." the older boy teased with a playful smirk. 

"I...uh-" Dwight's stuttering was cut short by Ms. Yamaoka's stern voice. 

"So glad you could join us, Mr. Fairfield. I really hope you put more effort into your project than your attendance since you and Mr. King will be going up next." 

Dwight gave a small nod and the two boys got up and walked to the front of the class. David took the lead and started explaining the intro with ease. It seemed his confidence was unwavering, even in a class full of relatively new people. Dwight took the time to steel himself for his part. Time always felt like it was coming down to a crawl whenever he was presenting and this time was no different. When it was his turn to speak, he started out alright but ended up freezing for a second after stumbling over one of his lines. He started to fidget with his cuff links as his thoughts began to race. 

"Shit, I should've practiced more. I must look like an idiot right now. How long has it been without me speaking? It feels like forever and everyone is just staring at me. God I'm gonna fail this project. And then David is gonna fail too and-" 

His thoughts were interrupted by a light tug on his sleeve and the feeling of something being placed in his hand. Snapping out of his daze, he realized that David had just handed him a couple of flash cards outlining his part. Scanning over the card, he quickly recovered and continued explaining his section with renewed confidence. The rest of their presentation turned out smoothly and the 2 of them ended up finishing right as the bell rang. A wave of relief came over Dwight as he packed his bag alongside David. 

They had only taken a couple of steps out of the room when Dwight blurted: "Thank you for saving me!" 

David chuckled before waving his hand. 

"It's not that big of deal, just being a good partner." 

"Good partner? You're awesome! Here I am being an awkward mess and you swoop in with that card to save my life."

"I didn't realize Ms. Yamaoka was gonna kill you on the spot for messing up a line." David said with a chuckle. 

"That would have been preferable to dying of embarrassment in front of the whole class. When did you make those flash cards? I don't think you mentioned them while we were in the library." 

"Well, you seemed to be more on the shy side and I figured that would be the case when we presented. So I double checked the project guidelines and it said were allowed to use flash cards, so I made them during lunch just in case you needed some extra help. I was gonna ask if you wanted yours before we presented but you got to class late then Ms. Yamaoka was rushing us." David explained as if it were no big deal. 

"This boy is too good to be true." Dwight thought to himself.

"Hell yeah it helped, you basically saved our presentation with those cards. I have to like buy you a pretzel or something when he hang out tomorrow." 

David raised an eyebrow. 

"Your botanical garden sells pretzels?" 

"Well n-no, but you get what I mean." Dwight replied sheepishly. 

David just smiled and slung his arm over the younger boy's shoulders. 

"Don't worry about it mate, was just being a good partner is all."

Dwight tried not to get too flustered at the shift in proximity. He was just starting to come down from the adrenaline rush he got from the presentation, but having the object of his affection so close by was giving him an entirely new wave of excitement. 

"Are you sure? I basically owe you a life debt now." 

David let out a hearty laugh before giving the other boy's shoulder a light squeeze. 

"Yeah yeah, we're good."

"Hmmm okay, if you say so. How about I walk you to your next class? I have a free period so I can spare the time." 

David gave a simple nod and the 2 began making their way over to his class in an easy silence. That is until David eventually spoke up. 

"So is everything good with you? You left pretty quickly the other day." 

Dwight tensed at the callback to the library but did his best to keep his cool. 

"Oh that? I...just remembered I promised my roommate I'd watch this film with him for his art history class. Jeff's a really nice guy and I knew I'd feel awful if I broke my promise so I had to leave in a hurry." 

Dwight felt like he was holding his breathe waiting for David's reply. 

"Oh okay, I get that." 

Dwight's shoulders relaxed at the other boy seeming to buy his answer. It was only a half lie. He really had promised to watch some arthouse film with Jeff. So what if he twisted the truth about what day he was supposed to watch it? 

When they arrived at David's classroom, Dwight turned to face him. The athlete had a pensive expression, as if he was unsure about what he wanted to say. He opened his mouth to finally speak but was cut off by one of his classmates pushing between him and Dwight to get into the classroom. 

"Watch it man, we're gonna be late." Said the random student. 

David clenched his jaw for a moment before looking back at Dwight. 

"Guess I better get going." 

"Guess so, but I'll see you tomorrow at noon? We can meet outside my dorm, I'll text you it so you don't forget."

"Sounds good." David said as he waved goodbye before going into his class. 

Dwight walked back to his room with a small smile on his face. Checking the time, he noted that he still had another 50 minutes before his next class. Deciding to take a nap, he started to take off his uniform. As he was putting his blazer over his chair, he noticed that the scent of David's cologne still lingered on it. He couldn't quite place the type but it reminded him of David and that was all that mattered. Not caring about how wrinkled it would get, he laid down in his bed and hugged it close to his chest before drifting off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Any comments or kudos are appreciated. Next chapter is going to be Dwight and David working on the project and getting to know each other better.


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